Reviews moments in the history of human factors that are especially relevant to the field of technical communications. Discusses human factors research that is applicable to technical communications. Focuses on qualitative usability research, minimalism, and human activity interface design. (HB)

Presents a protocol that can be used to discover that S. marcescens produces a bright red pigment when exposed to one temperature condition and does not produce this color under other conditions. Enables students to connect gene expression and environmental changes. (DDR)

Models administrative and operating costs surrounding a hypermedia database and identifies seven conditions for the cost justification of hypermedia. Concludes that cost considerations aside, hypermedia offers significant data retrieval benefits in accessing text, video, still pictures, and sound, and provides substantially better human…

Highlights three ways a college or university can organize its technology areas to maximize comfort and save space. Examples are provided on controlling equipment sprawl through thoughtful workstation development, designing computer rooms for flexibility and effective cable management, and emulating business setups that are work-flow efficient and…

Describes Design Builder, interactive multimedia software that was developed to enable undergraduate engineers to experience working in a concurrent environment without direct and specialized teaching-staff support, and to provide an interactive and intelligent simulation environment from which users may develop a culture that introduces…

Discussion of technical education as part of the engineering education curriculum focuses on the effects of computerization, specifically the computerization of technical drawing. Topics include computer-aided graphics, computer-aided design, and the need for curriculum changes to allow more hours of practical work. (Author/LRW)

Surveys engineering students' attitudes towards mathematics in three different United Kingdom universities. Reports that students can be placed into five groupings; members of groups recorded significantly different responses to many of the questions posed, including their university, gender, home or overseas status, mathematics qualification on…

Evaluates the use of modern CAD methods to solve geometric problems. Solves descriptive geometry problems using the layout and position of the successive auxiliary views from the projection of three-dimensional figures onto a two-dimensional plane of paper. (CCM)

Describes a teaching model that applies management tools such as delegation, total quality management, time management, teamwork, and Deming rules. Promotes the advantages of efficiency, reporting, independent scheduling, and quality. (SK)

Argues against excessive content fragmentation in engineering courses, particularly in the early stages of engineering education. Discusses attempts to encourage cooperative learning and integrative reconciliation between courses. (WRM)

Explores why men and women decide to major in engineering. Results show that the most significant determinant of selecting an engineering major is gender. Indicates that advanced math and science courses are more important determinants for women. (Author/CCM)

Describes NEEDS (National Engineering Education Delivery System), a distributed server architecture developed to enable new pedagogical models based on Internet-mediated learning environments; linking solutions for electronic library services; Dublin Core updates citing relationship to other metadata efforts; and the computational, structural and…

Presents results from a series of interviews and focus groups of engineering faculty and students regarding the use of teams in their courses and the benefits and challenges they believe are a direct outcome of team-oriented approaches in engineering. (Author/CCM)

Presents an experiment aimed at constructing a genomic library that can be carried out over a week. Helps students learn concepts such as donor and vector DNAs, construction of recombinant DNA, host strain, and experiments in gene cloning more clearly. (PVD)

Offers pointers on finding resources on the Internet that may be useful to engineers and scientists. Suggests steps that beginners can take to become acquainted with the Internet and defines common Internet terms. Presents a list of engineering Internet resources that include listservs, USENET groups, gophers, and World Wide Web sites. (Author/JMV)